


Similar Pains

by Victor_EG



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: First Time Meeting, M/M, Wounded but no graphic depictions, pre-game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-20 00:31:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7383715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Victor_EG/pseuds/Victor_EG
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sitting alone in a dark alleyway, Genji refuses to accept that the 'pain'  from his wound is anything more than code. Machines can not feel real pain after all. A wandering ascetic gently disagrees.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Similar Pains

It was not real. The exhaustion that pulled him to the ground as the wall scraped against the metal plating on his back, the jolts that flared up his torn arm and down his back, it was all a programmed response. The mechanical body that was all Genji Shimada had to call his own told him what he should feeling. 

All it really was was his vents whiring as they cooled down his internal components, error codes sent to his brain to tell him his arm was injured, severed wires that connected to his wrist misfiring and making his fingers twitch erratically. This was not real pain, nothing he felt was true, and he despised the fact that this mechanical body insisted on lying to him.

“Enough,” he hissed at the arm cradled in his lap, his native tongue sounding strange to his own ears, even after the two years he had heard his own voice in its new form. “I will fix you later.” He had almost regretted fighting instead of running, though the ones who attacked him were… persistent. He was not welcome in this area, he was not human enough, and they did not want a machine disturbing their peace. 

Genji was not a stranger to conflict, though he had been outnumbered and did not want to end their lives. It was during an attempt to dodge one attack that another had caught his right arm, a blade shoved up into the joint of his wrist where his armor did not protect. It was his misstep, and after all, weren’t they right? For all his anger, did they not deserve to be unafflicted by machines if it was their desire? Unafflicted by his mere presence?

Another spark lit the frayed wires, sending more spasms of pain up his arm as viscous liquids dripped along the metal. Gritting his broken teeth underneath the mask and shutting his eyes, he curled around his arm, cursing the signals and their insistence that he was in pain. 

“Are you hurt?”

Genji’s good hand shot down to his sword, head snapping up to regard the new threat. An omnic dressed in ascetic clothes, floating cross legged as several metal balls drifting in the air around his neck. He had stopped exactly where the alley turned the corner, hidden away from the empty desert street that had cooled in the night air. Not a threat then, but certainly not a welcome sight. “I am fine,” the cyborg spoke in clipped, short English.

The omnic did not seemed convinced by his words, carefully unfolding his legs and landing gently on the ground. His movements were smooth and steady as he stepped forward, one step, and then another. Genji pushed himself into a stand, rebelling against the overheated mechanisms that refused to move as fast as he willed them to, the hilt of his sword pressed into his palm as he growled, “I said that I am fine.”

The ascetic paused for a moment before continuing to walk forward slowly, calmly. “You are in pain. Please, allow me to help you.” His voice seemed steady, almost soothing for a sound that was just as digital as his own. Another step, now only a few feet from Genji.

His sword was freed in a moment as he turned at the waist and rest the tip of the blade against the thick cable of the other’s neck. “Do omnics not understand a threat when they see it,” he snarled, certain he could slice through the thin metal that covered vital wires and supports. The omnic did stop then, but not much else. He did not seem to look at the blade, only at Genji, though that might be because it was difficult to tell where he was looking.

The omnic did not seem dissuaded, his voice still as calm and soothing as it had been. “I understand that at the core of all violence is fear. Through understanding, fear disappears. I understand the core of your violence, therefor I do not fear it.” 

Clearly he was a fool, an ignorant fool, those exact words forming in his voice box before the omnic perked up just a fraction. “And besides, I have dedicated myself to healing the wounded where I can, so you could say I am,” he raised two fingers, “Caught between two boards.” The omnic giggled, incredibly delighted with his turn of phrase, “I just learned that one.”

All retort disappeared from Genji’s mind, caught off guard by the simple joy he expressed in using a simple idiom. Was… this omnic for real? Honestly, did he just not grasp the situation? When he leaned forward, reaching for his wounded arm, panic gripped Genji as he removed his sword as quickly as he could to keep from harming the omnic.

He seemed not to notice the sudden movement as he gently took the cyborg’s arm in his hands, carefully removing the armor plating and handing it to a third hand that had materialized from behind his back. Delicate fingers began to examine wires and thin tubes, one of the balls around his neck floating forward and glowing a faint, golden light over the arm. 

As gentle as he was, Genji found himself gritting his teeth against the renewed pain until the ascetic adjusted something in the wiring. Instant relief flood through his entire body, a sound between a sigh and a moan escaping his voice box without his permission, quickly biting his lip and looking away. “This seems quite painful,” the omnic mused, paying no mind to the noise.

“It is not real pain,” Genji breathed, chest rising and falling as the vents seemed to quiet.

“What is real pain,” he asked with nothing but unassuming curiosity, continuing to realign the sliced areas before they seemed to merge together under the light of the orb.

“Real pain is… from when I was human.”

“What was pain like when you were human?”

Genji looked back to the omnic who was steadfastly focused on his task. It was odd to think about, how something was before all of this happened. Still, he considered it. He remembered times when he was hurt as a child while training, or as a teenager while sparring. One memory leapt out above the rest, the last time he experienced real pain, at the hands of his brother, his sword and his dragon. Pain, fear, hate, betrayal… “It is… searing hot and biting cold. Deep enough to feel it in your bones, the way it drags itself into other parts of your body. Like a relentless beast.”

There was a pause, searching for more to say but coming up empty. The omnic continued, “And what is the pain like now?”

Genji took a deep breath, the words coming faster this time, “It is not searing, it does not move, it is not lasting…” As fast as they had come, once again he found himself grasping for more until he shook his head.

“I see, it is not these things. But then what is it,” the omnic implored, almost reaching the end of his ministrations, tipping his head up briefly to glance at Genji.

Snarling underneath his mask, he finally had caught up to what he seemed to be implying. “I do not like this interrogation.”

“I do not mean to interrogate you, Shimada Genji.”

Straightening at the mention of his own name, the omnic had finished healing his arm and replaced the armor plate that covered it. The third hand disappeared and the ball returned to its place around his neck. Clenching his hand a couple of times and finding things in good working order, Genji crossed his arms across his chest. No doubt the omnic knew of him from his time with Overwatch.

“To know my name when I do not know yours does not seem polite,” Genji grumbled, admittedly more annoyed at this fact than displeased. Still, it came as a surprise when the omnic bowed low.

“You are correct, I humbly apologize.” His words seemed sincere, and in fact, he was starting to sense that this omnic had never spoken a false word in his life. Genji’s arms loosened, his gut reaction urging him to say such an apology was not necessary. Instead, the omnic continued as he straightened from his bow, “My name is Tekhartha Zenyatta. I am a monk of the Shambali in Nepal.”

As if there were some other ascetic monastery for omnics. Genji bowed, hands firm at his sides, “I thank you for healing me.”

“I thank you for allowing me,” Zenyatta nodded, “Although… you are still in pain.”

“I am fine,” Genji insisted firmly, hesitating a moment, “Besides, it is not a pain you can heal.”

“That… is true,” Zenyatta admitted. Genji was already glancing up at the rooftops on either side of them, calculating the best way to get on top before Zenyatta continued. “However… if you ever find yourself in Nepal, and your feet bring you to the Shambali Monastery, I will be there. I may be able to help you heal your own pain.”

Genji did not respond immediately, pretending to look as if he were still trying to figure out his exit route. ...No. It was not possible. There was no healing this, this machine is what he had become. No amount of healing could change that. This monk could not change that. He gave a final bow, “Goodbye, Tekartha Zenyatta.” 

A running start up the wall, a jump, a flip and Genji reached the rooftops with effortless grace. Zenyatta watched him leave, the lithe form seeming to disappear into the night sky. He hoped this would not be the last time he saw him, though many spent a lifetime staying blind to their own fear. Sighing softly, Zenyatta crossed his legs once more and levitating, “Walk in harmony, Genji.”

**Author's Note:**

> My first Overwatch fic. I fell hard for these two, so I hope you enjoyed this thing I put together. I'm sure I'll be writing porn soon. <3


End file.
